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From: Melissa
Date: 02/10/01
Time: 11:57:36
Hi Jane,
I had to be off PPIs 14 days before my 24 hour ph monitoring test. I knew it would be tough, but I prepared for it. Previously I had learned that a particular diet would almost completely control my heartburn symptoms (which Prevacid greatly helped but never entirely took away). It wasn't a healthy diet for long term use, but for two weeks, yes, I could handle it. I ate King's Hawaiian Bread (with only the SLIGHTEST bit of butter on it), cranberry/aronia juice (couldn't drink the juice without bread at the same time or *heartburn*), and plain baked potatoes. Naturally, this might not work for anyone else but me. So, you could experiment (in advance of your test!) and see if there are a few foods that you can eat without getting many symptoms. Even if it isn't a totally balanced diet, it may sustain you for 5 days.
Pepto Bismal also always helped me, so I took that when I couldn't take Prevacid. Now, I have heard from many people that it did nothing at all for them. Perhaps it might work for you though. Or something like Pepcid or Tagamet (my surgeon's instructions indicated these had to be discontinued, I think, about 48 hours or so before the test--I can't remember for sure). Anyway, the idea is to find some combination of drugs and diet that will help you at least somewhat diminish your symptoms for a short period of time.
The other thing I did was to severely limit physical activities for those 14 days. For me, the more excercise I got, the worse my symptoms were. So, when gerd hit me, I had to become much less active than I had been my whole life. Bummer. For the pre-test period, I just moved around as little as possible. I also didn't bend over at all because that would get me a mouth full of acid. Basically what you want to do is avoid as much as possible doing whatever it is (and you need to make note what you are doing when your symptoms are worst) that brings on symptoms.
Then on the day of the test. Have a normal day. Don't restrict activities. Do what you would if you didn't have gerd. Nothing crazy or anything, but the usual kind of things. You want that test to show what happens in normal daily life. Because if you take precautions, the test won't be accurate-- all you might be showing is how well you can reduce reflux when you really try!
I don't know what your surgeon has told you about what to eat, but mine had specific instructions to eat two meals that would *cause* acid to be produced. This was so he could see how much was coming up into the esophagus. And did I get terrible heartburn? You betcha! Was is worth it? Definitely. I got the surgery and now can eat the very same GREASY meals I ate during the ph monitoring test with absolutely NO heartburn whatsoever. No chest pain. No more shortness of breath. And no more gobs of pill taking all day to deal with either (none in fact).
Melissa, Tessie@io.com